Estonia seventh in the yearly Russia’s “enemies” list

Estonia has “improved” its standing as one of the most important “enemies” of Russia, having positioned seventh in 2017 – two notches up from last year.

The friends and enemies’ lists are compiled every year by the Levada Centre polling agency and are based on public opinion. The poll asks respondents to name five countries that are, in their opinion, the friendliest towards Russia, and then another five that are the most hostile. The Levada Centre titles the list as “The ‘friends’ and ‘enemies’ of Russia”.

In both 2016 and 2017, 16 per cent of the respondents named Estonia among their pick of the five “enemies”; however, last year Estonia placed ninth – and this year seventh. It’s not the “best” position for Estonia in the Russia’s enemies’ list as in 2007, the country topped the list with 60 per cent of the poll’s respondents naming Estonia as a hostile country – making the tiny state of 1.3 million the biggest enemy of the Russian Federation.

This year’s list is topped by the United States (69%), Ukraine (50%), Germany, Latvia and Lithuania (all 24%). The sixth most hostile enemy, according to the people, is Poland (21%).

After Estonia comes the United Kingdom (15%), Georgia (9%) and France (8%).

The top 10 has somewhat changed compared with 2016 when the top ten was: the United States, Ukraine, Turkey, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Germany, the UK, Estonia and Georgia.

The Levada Centre also compiles lists of the friendliest countries towards Russia, using the same method. According to the average Russian, the friendliest countries are Belarus, Kazakhstan and China.

The 20 countries most hostile towards Russia throughout the years (percentage of respondents naming the country):

2006

2007

2009

2010

2011

2012

2013

2014

2015

2016

2017

1. The US

37

35

45

26

33

35

38

69

73

72

69

2. Ukraine

27

23

41

13

20

15

11

30

37

48

50

3. Germany

2

2

3

1

4

3

3

18

19

19

24

4. Latvia

46

36

35

36

35

26

21

23

25

23

24

5. Lithuania

42

32

35

35

34

25

17

24

25

23

24

6. Poland

7

20

10

14

20

8

8

12

22

24

21

7. Estonia

28

60

30

28

30

23

16

21

19

16

16

8. The UK

5

3

8

6

8

7

9

18

21

18

15

9. Georgia

44

46

62

57

50

41

33

19

11

10

9

10. France

1

1

1

<1

1

1

2

5

7

4

8

11. Turkey

1

1

1

1

1

1

2

1

1

29

8

12. Japan

4

3

3

3

9

6

7

5

6

5

6

13. Syria

<1

<1

<1

<1

1

2

3

1

1

3

4

14. Canada

1

<1

1

<1

1

1

1

7

8

6

3

15. Afghanistan

12

11

7

14

15

8

10

5

4

2

3

16. Iraq

9

8

5

9

9

8

7

3

2

2

3

17. Romania

2

2

3

3

3

1

2

2

3

2

2

18. Saudi Arabia

–

1

<1

1

2

2

2

1

2

2

2

19. China

–

3

3

4

4

4

5

1

<1

1

2

20. Iran

7

7

3

7

7

7

5

2

2

2

2

The 20 countries most friendly towards Russia throughout the years (percentage of respondents naming the country):

Sten Hankewitz is a lifelong journalist and Deputy Editor at Estonian World. Having lived in Estonia, Spain, the UK and all around the US, he now resides in Chicago, IL. He loves to write and besides working at Estonian World and doing some occasional blogging, he writes books and contributes to other outlets in Estonia, Israel and elsewhere. He has strong convictions and he shows them unashamedly. You can follow him on Twitter, like his page on Facebook or check out his personal blog. You can write to Sten at sten@estonianworld.com.